Moscow has accused NATO of encouraging Kiev’s military operation in the east amid its own unprecedented activity near Russian borders while the alliance’s chief during a peacemaking meeting in Brussels blamed Russia for illegal aggression against Ukraine.

“NATO is providing
Kiev – a member of its Partnership for Peace program – with
technical assistance, thus encouraging the prolongation of its
use of force. Thus the Alliance accepts a part of the
responsibility for the escalation of the situation, and the
collapse of diplomatic negotiations,” said Aleksandr
Grushko, Russia’s envoy to NATO, following a meeting that was
initially called by Moscow.

Newly-elected Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko – not
recognized by the country’s eastern regions which are demanding
independence from Kiev – ordered a swift finalization of the
military operation that has already resulted in hundreds of
deaths, including many women and children.

In his post-meeting speech, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said
that Moscow is to blame for the crisis in Ukraine.

“The climate at the moment is not good – not because NATO
wants it that way, but because of Russia’s illegal aggression
against Ukraine,” he said.

Rasmussen urged Russia to “stop the flow of arms and fighters
into Ukraine,” and to “use its influence for the freeing of OSCE
monitors taken hostage.” A team of four people from the
international organization – whose monitoring mission has been
officially endorsed by Kiev, Moscow, and the West – were detained
by local self-defense forces last week.

The sides also exchanged barbs over the build-up of forces on
Ukrainian borders.

“We have noticed unprecedented NATO activity near Russia's
borders. It is excessive, inappropriate, and weakens stability,
security and predictability in the Euro-Atlantic region,”
said Grushko.

The Alliance has transferred additional naval forces to the
Baltic and the Black Sea, and has also moved extra fighter
squadrons into Poland. The increased presence will continue at
least until the end of the year, according to US NATO envoy
Douglas Lute.

In turn, Rasmussen has asked that Russia withdraw its own troops
“completely” and “transparently” from its
border with Ukraine. Although the removal of Russian troops from
the border region was ordered by President Vladimir Putin ahead
of Ukraine’s presidential election a week ago, Western powers
have so far refused to recognize the move.

In the words of Alliance spokesperson Oana Lungescu, the talks
between Russia and NATO – which suspended all official
cooperation with Moscow after the incorporation of Crimea in
April – show “that there are fundamentally different views on
this crisis, on its origins, on what is happening now and on how
it should be resolved.”

Following the failure of emergency talks to produce a hint of
consensus, NATO member defense ministers are expected to be even
more focused on Ukraine during their meeting in Brussels, which
begins on Tuesday.